Sermon Tone Analysis

Tonight we’re looking once again at the portion of Scripture that speaks to the subject of unity in the church.

\\ \\ Philippians 2:1-4 says, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

\\ \\ We are exhorted in Scripture toward unity.

Not only in this passage but elsewhere as well.

Paul told the believers at Rome to “Be of the same mind toward one another.

Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.

Do not be wise in your own opinion” (Romans 12:16).

In 1 Corinthians 1:10, he told the Corinthians that they “all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

\\ \\ He told them the same thing in his second letter: “Finally, brethren, farewell.

Become complete.

Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11).

\\ \\ Unity should be the pursuit of every child of God.

All of us should endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

In order to do this we must understand what is the basis for unity, the call to unity, and the process for unity.

\\ \\ We said last time that the basis for unity is found in verse 1 — it is the divine influence on our life that has given us 4 fulfilled conditions in our life.

They are “encouragement in Christ, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, and affection and mercy.”

Every believer has receive these 4 realities.

JB Lightfoot says that the verse could be read this way: “If then your experiences in Christ appeal to you with any force, if love exerts any persuasive power upon you, if your fellowship in the Spirit is a living reality, if you have any affectionate yearnings of heart, any tender feelings of compassion, listen and obey.”

\\ \\ Because we have these 4 realities it should motivate us to unity.

\\ \\ If you look in chapter 1, Paul states 3 other realities that are present in their lives.

In 1:6, Paul said that God has “begun a good work in you [and] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

He mentions this again in 2:13 where he says, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Echoing his words to the Ephesians, he says in 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Since it is “God who works in you,” Paul says in Philippians 1:7 that they were made “partakers with me of grace.”

The same grace Paul received, they received.

The same God who was at work in Paul’s life was at work in their lives.

\\ \\ In 1:29-30, he even shows them that they were graciously granted not only to believe in Christ, “but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.”

God’s work in us should motivate us to unity.

“This unity must be expressed in deeds, gestures, and speech—in short, in the way we think about, talk to, and act with other Christians.”

Anything short of this is demonic!

\\ \\ The call to unity is in verse 2 where he tells them to be like-minded, i.e. thinking the same thing by having the same love.

This like-mindedness is “seeing things as Christ would see them, and to respond as He would respond.”

It is “the concord not of having a common hatred, but of a common love...It manifests itself in a complete harmony of the feelings and affections...It produces an entire unison of thought and directs it to one end.”

Being like-minded, being united in Spirit and intent on one purpose will produce unity.

But in order to obey this truth we must put away 2 negatives and affirm the one positive that’s found in verses 3-4.

Notice what Paul gives for the process for unity.

\\ \\ Do Nothing By Way of Selfishness (v.3a) \\ \\ The first part of verse 3 says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit.”

J. Vernon McGee says, “Most of the difficulties in the church today are not due to doctrinal differences.

They are due to strife and envy.

Some people just naturally cause trouble.”

\\ \\ Paul says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition.”

\\ \\ “Selfish ambition” or “strife” is the Greek word eritheia.

This word “has the idea of factiousness.”

\\ \\ It “speaks of the pride that prompts people to push for their own way.

The term did not originally have a negative connotation.”

It “merely referred to a day laborer.

But it came to be used metaphorically, and almost exclusively, of a person who persistently seeks personal advantage and gain, regardless of the effects on others.

It often was used of the unfair pursuit and self-serving preservation of political office.

By NT times, it had come to mean unbridled, selfish ambition in any field of endeavor.”

William Barclay says, “If a man is forever concerned first and foremost with his own interests, he is bound to collide with others.

If for him life is a competition whose prizes he must win, he will always think of other human beings as enemies or at least as opponents who must be pushed out of the way.

Concentration on self inevitably means elimination of others; and the object of life becomes not to help others up but to push them down.”

\\ \\ The verb “do” that appears here in verse 3 does not appear in “the Greek text.”

It is literally “Nothing by way of selfishness.”

\\ \\ This “grammatical form expresses a negative command...[and it] goes far beyond mere actions; selfishness is also to be totally excluded from the innermost thoughts of the heart.”

\\ \\ Selfishness is the root of every other sin.

It was by placing his will above God’s that Satan fell.

Isaiah 14:12-14 says, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” \\ \\ It was by placing their own wills above God’s that Adam and Eve first brought sin into the world.

Genesis 3:6 says, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”

\\ \\ Selfishness is a consuming and destructive sin.

It breeds anger, resentment, and jealousy.

Paul warned Timothy about this in 1 Timothy 6:1-4.

He said, “Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed.

And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved.

Teach and exhort these things.

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions.”

He told the Corinthians that their divisions was due to their selfishness.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 says, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.

For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” \\ \\ “No church, even the most doctrinally sound and spiritually mature, is immune from the threat of this sin, and nothing can more quickly divide and weaken the church.”

\\ \\ The word eritheia is translated by various terms in the NT: “self-seeking”.

Romans 2:18 says, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness--indignation and wrath.

James 3:14-16 says, “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

\\ \\ The second word is “strife”.

2 Corinthians 12:20 says, “For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults.”

\\ \\ Selfishness appears in Paul’s list of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21.

It says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” \\ \\ So Paul tells them “Nothing by way of selfishness” and now he tells them: \\ \\ Do Nothing By Way of Conceit (v.3b) \\ \\ The word “conceit” or “vain glory” is the Greek word kenodoxia.

It comes from kenos, which means “empty” and doxa which means “glory.”

It is “empty glory.”

This is a highly exaggerated self-view, which is nothing but empty conceit or “empty pride.”

\\ \\ “This word has the two senses: “delusion,” and “conceit.”

Only conceit occurs in the NT (Philippians 2:3), though we find both in the apostolic fathers.”

\\ \\ “Whereas selfish ambition pursues personal goals, empty conceit seeks personal glory and acclaim.”

\\ \\ “A person with conceit considers himself always to be right and expects others to agree with him.

The only unity he seeks or values is centered on himself.”

\\ \\ We must be on constant guard against conceit.

Galatians 6:3 says, “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Romans 13:13-14 says, “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”